I see so many pit bull + baby pics...and they usually make me cringe...not just for the safety concerns I have with dogs and small babies together with no immediate supervision. But also for what we are teaching the kids. It's okay to poke/prod/hug dogs.

Recently – as happens at least weekly – I came across yet another of those “adorable” photos of a child mistreating a dog, with a caption to the effect of “what a great dog” he was to have such patience with the baby. The poor dog in this particular photo was clearly tolerating the smooch of a toddler who appeared to be grabbing part of the dog’s eye with his little baby fingers. While we professional trainers were up on our high horses, discussing how ridiculous people are in allowing such risky behavior to continue, it occurred to me that even if the dog were completely safe with the children – as some extremely tolerant dogs seem to be – why aren’t the people concerned about the treatment of the dogs themselves?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece in my High Drive Dogs Blog about what I call “respecting” your dog, that is, recognizing dog body language and allowing your dog to get out of uncomfortable situations whenever possible. Now it occurs to me that perhaps this article missed a large piece of its mark. To quote my esteemed colleague and kids and dogs expert, Madeline Clark Gabriel,

I ask why the definition of a good dog is often, ‘You can do anything to him.’ That wouldn’t make any sense if phrased in terms of other relationships: ‘I have a really good wife. You can do anything to her.’ Creepy!

In my home, we work constantly to teach our daughter to respect the dogs and other pets in our household (which include cats, turtles, and fish.) We reward her for appropriate behaviors, and sternly remind her to be nice when she makes a mistake. She is never allowed to pull hair, tails and ears; never allowed to hit or shove them; never allowed to sit upon them (I know one dog who sustained a back injury due to a child sitting upon him.)

A boy and his dog – mutual respect.Photo courtesy of Natasha Gelfand

I find it troubling that some people are so determined to prove how great their dogs are, that they seem to forget that these dogs have feelings too! And I don’t mean just emotions, but physical feelings of pain and discomfort. Granted, sometimes we don’t have a choice but to suffer discomfort or pain, as with doctor visits or vaccines, but when we can prevent discomfort, why don’t we? I tell my clients not to allow their children to do anything to a dog that they wouldn’t allow done to themselves. Would you let a child pull your earlobe until it hurt? Or bite your forehead with his little baby teeth? I can tell you that my tolerance for that would be low. Of course, I wouldn’t injure the child, but I would make it stop and redirect the child to something less painful, such as chewing on a teething ring. Similarly, if you see a child doing something like this to your dog, redirect the child. If your dog learns that you will step in to protect him, then he will not need to ever defend himself, and he will be able to remain the great dog that you know him to be.

We must never forget that dogs do feel, and thus we must strive to treat them with the respect with which we wish to be treated ourselves. As Matthew Scully so eloquently states:

“Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind’s capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don’t; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us.”

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

Yeah......... About a month or so ago, my nephew had a new baby........and there were pictures posted of 1 month old baby Kaleb sitting in the car seat, with both Pit Bulls on either side, smelling his head. The family comments were generally "" Tank and Posh" Love the Baby So Much----------It's so sweet how they keep him safe'.

Then the young mother said "yeah, Tank didn't even want me by the baby yesterday".

I'M LIKE HELLLOOOOOOO ARE YOU smurfing CRAZY????????????????/

ahem.sorry.

but they are young, ignorant and I'm kinda known as the nosy know it All, *how did that happen?*, so of course any comment was met with ""THEY WOULD NEVER HURT THIS BABY.....I would NEVER LET THEM BY THE BABY IF IT WASN'T SAFE.

yada yada yada////////

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are Anger and Courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”----Augustine

I remember YEARS ago, at a family Christmas party, my cousin plopped his baby daughter down on top of Wally. Now, Wally was super social, loved everyone, but NEVER would I have allowed that! When I said something my cousin was like "Well why did you bring him here if he is aggressive?" No, he's not aggressive, but placing a child on top of a dog is NOT cool!

With the babies that Teeny and Blue have met, they have been fine. Teeny is even totally in love with them, very interested in what they're doing, and gently concerned when they fuss. BUT the babies have not been allowed to physically man handle my dogs. Touch them? Fine. Sometimes it turns grabby and then their fingers are pried off of the dogs and redirected to something else. But MAN! The pics and stories of people who say "My dog is SOOOO tolerant of my child doing XYZ" . . . just horrifying.

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France

Remember the dog that bit me a few times last year? Extremely over the top fearful, trained exclusively using a prong? Last week I overheard the dog's owner telling someone "she is so great with the kids. My son can lay on her and poke her face and pull her ears and she doesn't do anything."

The clock is ticking for that dog to savage someone.

Michelle

Inside me is a thin woman trying to get out. I usually shut the bitch up with a martini.

I grew up in the era of "don't bother the dog. If you bother the dog and the dog bites you, don't come crying to me".

Seemed like practical advice to me, right up there with don't put your hand on the stove and don't play in the street.

My niece and nephews were also raised to respect animals as living things and the message was "it's not always the dog's fault if you get bitten, it's a living sentient being of which you need to be respectful, your behavior has consequences".

Have you all seen the pic of the toddler sticking her head into the cone that the husky or whatever is wearing? Freaks me out. People love it. Another local "trainer" posted it on her page and had 29 people like it. Jenn pointed out how it freaked her out, and then somebody after that posted again how cute it was. This "trainer" didn't even realize it's stupid. We can't expect John Q Public to realize the stupidity when those touting themselves as educated post it up as amusing. Blows my mind.

"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

Ruby is so tolerant of things that she's had plenty of kids hanging on her. But as soon as she makes a move to leave, she's left alone. And those of you who know the Princess know that she does what she wants... Mostly she just doesn't care. There is a series of pictures somewhere around here of her with Joseph. There were a few big giant stress yawns, but that's about it. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=23281&p=242783

Both my dogs loooove kids, want to lick them and follow them and be touched by them. My 12 year old niece was just over and she has to ask them to sit or go to their bed because they're in her space and will even lick air next to her and sit on her feet. They calm down really fast after she ignores them.

On the other hand, if they meet a smaller kid I usually have to restrain them because they will lick lick lick and wiggle and not stop and that annoys me (and some moms/kids). So they sort of keeps themselves safe from grabby hands/tail pulling/being a pony. But man do they want to wash those toddlers.

I just hope that if/when that happens that someone pulls this video up in an attempt to protect the dog or at least to educate the populace. Wouldn't it be great if, for once, the news actually ran a story somewhere along the lines of, "This is stupid parenting. This is the owner's fault." You know an actual cause and effect dialog.

I just hope that if/when that happens that someone pulls this video up in an attempt to protect the dog or at least to educate the populace. Wouldn't it be great if, for once, the news actually ran a story somewhere along the lines of, "This is stupid parenting. This is the owner's fault." You know an actual cause and effect dialog.

Wishful thinking, I know.

Oh but then we can't have sensational news about the horrid vicious dog that just snapped out of nowhere and mauled the innocent little kid...

Not only am I a member of the Michelle says my dog is fat club I'm the president!I can Alpha Roll hair!